Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) is reportedly warning Senate Republicans that moving ahead this week with a major budget reconciliation package could keep Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in Washington days before his Texas Republican runoff against Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Axios reported that Tillis told colleagues “in unequivocal terms” that he would not vote for the reconciliation bill if the Senate considers it this week, citing two people familiar with the matter. The report said Tillis criticized the bill in an email to Republican colleagues Monday morning, while also making clear he could eventually support the overall bill and that his “main two concerns” were timing and any funding associated with President Donald Trump’s “ballroom.”

Republican leaders are still planning to bring the bill to the floor on Thursday after it passes out of committee on Wednesday, Axios reported. The outlet noted the bill is “subject to a vote-a-rama,” giving Democrats a chance to offer amendments on issues such as the ballroom funding that “could be uncomfortable for Republicans,” particularly those facing reelection.

The report said Tillis is also concerned about the political impact on Cornyn, who faces Paxton in Texas’s May 26 Republican Senate primary runoff. Axios reported that Tillis is “fuming over the ouster of incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana’s GOP primary” and is warning that “pushing a bill this week would hurt Sen. John Cornyn in Texas’ GOP primary runoff next week.” Tillis believes Cornyn should be “free to campaign in Texas this week instead of being in D.C. for votes,” the outlet reported. Axios also noted that Tillis sees “echoes of the One Big Beautiful Bill,” which he opposed, in the current reconciliation package. 

The Axios piece comes less than a year after Tillis announced he would not seek reelection following his opposition to Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill over Medicaid cuts. Tillis said at the time that he had done his “homework on behalf of North Carolinians” and could not support the bill “in its current form,” arguing it would cause “tens of billions of dollars in lost funding for North Carolina,” including for hospitals and rural communities. Trump responded by accusing Tillis of trying to “grandstand in order to get some publicity for himself” and said that “numerous people” had come forward wanting to run against him in a primary.

Cornyn faces Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas’s May 26 Republican Senate primary runoff. Breitbart News reported May 5 that a University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs poll found Paxton leading Cornyn 48 percent to 45 percent among likely Republican runoff voters, with seven percent undecided. The same poll found Cornyn with a 47 percent favorable and 49 percent unfavorable rating, while Paxton had a 50 percent favorable and 43 percent unfavorable rating.

Paxton has released an ad targeting Cornyn’s past remarks on immigration and border security. The ad featured Cornyn’s comments that Americans could find a way to “deal with the 12 million people” in the country illegally through a status that would let them “work here” and “stay in the United States,” as well as his statement that “a new, giant wall between the United States and Mexico from sea to shining sea makes no sense whatsoever,” before ending with the narration, “Cornyn: good for illegals, bad for Texans.”

In April 2022, Breitbart News reported that Tillis and Cornyn joined Sens. Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) for talks on immigration-related legislation. The Hill reported at the time that the group planned to use “smaller, already introduced, bipartisan immigration-related bills” to build a package that could reach 60 votes in the Senate. Durbin said the group had “a starting list” and that there was “a genuine interest in doing something.”

 Tillis told The Hill that he wanted to “start some working groups” and said, “The only way that we’re going to get real progress is to have a four-pillar discussion — so immigration reform, DACA, border security and then I think asylum reform is pretty important, particularly with that’s going on with Title 42.”

In June 2022, after Cornyn told Padilla, “First guns, now it’s immigration,” following his gun-control negotiations with Democrats, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), then a Democrat, responded, “That’s right, we’re going to do it.” The comment drew backlash from Republicans, including former Trump administration official Andrew Surabian and then-House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

Surabian said, “From selling out on gun control to selling out on amnesty in light speed.” McCarthy said, “Amnesty is a non starter with me and won’t be taken up by a House Republican majority,” adding that House Republicans’ focus should be securing the border and stopping illegal immigration. Cornyn later told Breitbart News, “The Democrats and their allies in the media really can’t take a joke. There’s no secret amnesty bill,” and his office said the remark was made in jest.

Cornyn had previously expressed support for a legislative solution for DACA recipients. In June 2020, he said on the Senate floor, “DACA recipients deserve a permanent, legislative solution,” adding, “We must take action and pass a law that will unequivocally allow these young men and women to stay in the only home they’ve ever known.” In March 2022, Cornyn also floated prioritizing protections for current DACA recipients, saying, “I’ve always been sympathetic to giving them some certainty.”